...although I'm surprised you have levels that high across the board as is...

I had that problem with Aya's gym too, I think the main problem is that there are a ton of trainers in Apophyll so you gain a lot of levels and people expect to get the badge from Kiki so they think there's no problem. I think this section is a pretty long stretch to go without a badge - that said, I managed to beat the gym, but it took a lot of tries since my pokemon were being jerks.

Quote:

It should open if you "talk" to it.

I tried that first thing (I should have said that), but nope, nothing happens. I'm not crazy about Bulbasaur or anything, though, so I'm not that concerned out about it right now.